Wednesday, December 17, 2008

why President Bush must take a trip to Chad right now

A New York Times piece explores various insults around the world in the wake of the shoe-throwing incident. In terms of hilarity, Chad is the runaway winner here:

For scholars of insults, what comes to mind almost immediately after a high-profile insulting incident is the central African nation of Chad, where hitting someone with a pair of pants is the highest form of insult. It means that the target is lower than pants, the hem of which, while not on the ground, is often near the ground and, again, unclean. The only problem with this form of insult is that the thrower then has to retrieve the pants, as he or she had been wearing them.

For many years people threw shorts, but almost no one was offended, as the hem of shorts is a great distance from the ground. “We’re working on new forms of insult, as well as changing our country’s name, which, strangely, is a common first name in California,” said a Chadian cultural attaché. “We need to be taken more seriously.”


Nota bene: I'm pretty sure this isn't real.

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